Meet Theo Francis

We were lucky to catch up with Theo Francis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Theo, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Taking a lot of dumb risks. I’ve always been a ‘go hard or go home’ type of guy and it didn’t mesh well with my parents idea of staying quiet and out of the way. These things would rattle my parents and I got a couple sit downs. At the same time though, even when I failed, I always ended up on my feet. So I ended up joining the wrestling team, getting a CDL, becoming an actor, starting a business, ending a business, starting another business and so on and so forth. My first two years in NYC, I held 6 different jobs because I would jump ship when I didn’t like it anymore.

I also had a good safety net and realize my parents were so cautious because they only had each other and had to somehow make things work. Learning from my mistakes made me realize it wasn’t necessarily any single ability that was important. What was important was my belief in the ability that I could figure things out when it got rough.

I also believe resilience comes by accepting each experience for its merits. If you learn, then there is some positive no matter what and not everything is meant for us. All of my risk taking has made me more calculated and intuitive when I make decisions as an adult and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a 32 year old actor in Brooklyn, NY. I grew up in the DC Area as the son of Bangladeshi Immigrants. My parents came to America in 1986 and really worked their backs off to get our family to a better place. I was born in 1992 and was lucky enough to live a more suburban life.

I always struggled to talk to people and never did amazing at school. Movies and TV were always fascinating though, we always had Bollywood movies playing in the house. I think part of the reason I couldn’t socialize was because I was copying what I saw on TV, which is never great. During college, I had a bit of a mental shift because I wasn’t happy. I studied psych and did ok but something was missing. Getting a job after college was near impossible and when I finally got one after over a year, I quit. I thought being an adult having a job meant freedom to pursue what I liked, but it was the opposite. All of my free time was gone. I began taking acting classes and that’s when I felt I had something.

I audition and was lucky enough to get representation. Recently, I began producing my own content and am aiming towards having a production company. I’m creating comedy sketches and videos about cars and bikes. Its slow moving and a bit tougher to be both behind and in front of the camera, but the level of creative freedom is second to none. I release the car and bike videos on my YouTube channel @Pedal while the comedy side is still under construction. Neither is very good at the moment. But I’m always getting better and learning by doing.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Letting myself heal when needed, being resilient and the idea of radical acceptance really helped me power through whenever the ride got bumpy. My personal opinion is that ego often gets mistaken for confidence in the present day. With the amount of interaction our lives have with one another, we can’t all constantly be right or have every single one of our dreams come true. We have to yield sometimes because there is something better out there.

For people just starting out, you have to go through the muck. For me it was my ideas getting shot down, my performances criticized, my looks unnecessarily commented upon. Do not let it affect your self worth. Learn whatever is needed whether its about the situation, you, or the other person but keep it emotionless and move forward. If it cuts too deep, then you give yourself time to heal.

Radical acceptance is very powerful here, because its the idea that the worst thing could happen right now and we accept it for what it is. When you’re anxious, it feels like or death and if things turn bad from there you need something to bring you back to the middle. I always find this idea helps me keep pushing forwards.

Part of making it in any business is that your vision will have to adapt a bit to reality. Adapting is good, compromising is not. I feel these three qualities helped me become adaptable.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

I was actually talking to my sister about this yesterday. My mom always had us do the dirty work growing up. So we cut chicken, peeled potatoes, chopped onions, cleaned bathrooms etc. We could complain, but the chore wasn’t going anywhere. Nowadays, me and my siblings find ourselves finishing every job until the end,

At my numerous day jobs, I’m usually offered promotions because I make sure my work is properly done even if its not the easiest thing to do. I also think that’s what has made me so willing to dip my toes into business. I’ll get in there and do everything myself if it makes the business work.

Contact Info:

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Pedal-00

Image Credits

Shreya Sahai